It’s almost a new year and you are trying to decide what to do for the evening celebration. Why not consider throwing a potluck New Year’s Eve dinner buffet. This type of party reduces the amount of work that you as a hostess has to do. I don’t know about you, but I like less work. Besides not having to cook everything, your clean up and the end will be easier since guests will be taking their left over foods home with them.
Potluck dinners work well for theme parties. You can make the main dish and then ask the guests to bring a side-dish that fits with the overall theme of the party. One example would be if you wanted to have a southern theme, then cornbread and beans are good side-dish choices to go along with the main dish of fried fish or chicken. You don’t have to make it difficult.
Delegating the Food
You may be delegating the food dishes to your guests, but you are still in charge of coordinating the party. Make a list of the side dishes you need; salads, desserts, appetizers and casseroles. Ask your guests which ones they would like to contribute. If you don’t do this, you could end up with 10 bowls of baked beans and nothing else. Once your guests is assigned a food group, make sure that no one duplicates an item. The easiest way to do this would be to just write on the invitation what you want them to bring. If it’s not convenient for them, they can let you know.
Time to Eat
If you are going to be serving hot foods and you don’t have the dinner schedule until later in the evening, you need to figure out a way to reheat the foods or to keep them warm until the dinner bell. Your best bet would be to have the buffet set up right away and plan on serving immediately. Maybe having a 30 minute cocktail time and then dinner could work. If this is a hot meal buffet, you need to stress to your guests that being on time is important if they want a hot meal.
Beverages
Beverages are a must at any party, but New Years Eve may require alcoholic beverages. You may ask your guests to bring their own, but that could cause major driving issues later in the evening. You might ask your guests to contribute one six-pack of beer or one bottle of wine. That should get you through the evening. Remember to not let your guest drink and drive. You might make coffee, tea or hot chocolate after the stroke of midnight so guests can get their bearings before getting on the road.
Having a potluck New Year’s Eve party is a wonderful choice if you don’t have the time to be responsible for the whole thing. Your friends and family should be more than willing to do their fair share in order to make the party a great success.
Why is it that your Green bean casserole looks better than mine?:-) This is a really good idea.
LOL, it looks better because it is a stock photo. Mine looks like that though. I thought the casserole dish in this photo looked better than my boring corning wear.
It is a good idea. I mean, after all the holidays, between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I think it’s time to give the hostess a break. The party can still be fun, just not hard work!